Can Manchester United afford to lose De Gea now?

June 13, 2017

Man Utd are now worth £2.9 billion and they have just overtaken Real Madrid to be named the world’s most valuable club, according to Forbes. Off the pitch they are flying due to a powerful brand and superb marketing acumen, but on the pitch it is another matter entirely. While United finished sixth in the Premiership and won the Europa League last season, Real Madrid won La Liga and then secured a second consecutive Champions League. It is easy to see why David De Gea would want to defect, leaving Old Trafford for the European Champions, but Man Utd should fight tooth and nail to keep him.

Every year Man United give out the Sir Matt Busby Award for the club’s player of the season. De Gea won it in 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2015-16, and only the strong form of Ander Herrera stopped him winning it for a fourth consecutive season in 2016-17. That says something about Man Utd’s diminished status as an attacking force, but it also points to the high regard De Gea is held in at the club. At 26, he will only get better and can expect at least a decade further at the top.

Moving to Real Madrid would make a great deal of sense for him as he is born and bred in Madrid, and they are currently the world’s best team. It would make sense for Real because there are question marks around Keylor Navas, seen as a weak link in an all-conquering side. But it would not make sense for Man Utd.

Yes, they have a strong back-up in Sergio Romero. The Argentinean excelled in the Europa League and kept two clean sheets in his two league appearances last season. But he is not at the same level as De Gea and there is a reason he is number two at Old Trafford.

Man Utd’s great challenge now is to catch up with Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich on the pitch. Selling your best players is counterproductive to such ambitions. They clearly do not need the money as they have deeper pockets than Real. That allowed them to break the world transfer record in signing Paul Pogba from Juventus last summer, and they are likely to spend a fortune this time around. A £31 million deal for Victor Lindelof is wrapped up, Ivan Perisic is said to be close to securing a £44 million move and United are also tipped to sign Alvaro Morata from Real for more than £50 million.

That final deal is important because it could mean Man Utd are forced to let go of De Gea if they want to sign the Spanish forward from Real Madrid, but the Jose Mourinho can afford to play hardball. Morata is not a regular starter at the Bernebeu, he is surplus to requirements and Real want to sell him to free up funds to bolster their squad.

Meanwhile De Gea is a key player for Man Utd, the first name on the team sheet and they would struggle to replace him with a player of a similar calibre. He is a brilliant shot stopper, has exemplary command of his area, handles the ball very well and has good distribution. There are few keepers in the world that are on his level. Maybe Manuel Neuer, Thibaut Courtois and Gianluigi Buffon, but that is about it.

Man Utd need to convince him that he can achieve everything he could ever hope to achieve at Old Trafford rather than elsewhere.

The signings they make this summer should cause them to improve, supplementing a defensively strong squad with attacking talent. They are expected to perform far better in the league next season: as you can see Man Utd are joint second favourites to win the Premiership at 3/1, and are also expected to reach the latter stages of the Champions League.

De Gea almost joined Real in 2015 but it fell through and he signed a deal that will take him up to 2019, with the option of a further year, so there is no pressing need to sell him. They could easily afford to offer him a new contract worth £200,000 a week. If he really kicks up a fuss, they can sell him but they should demand at least £65 million. They would never sign Neuer, Courtois or Buffon, while Jan Oblak is unlikely to go anywhere due to Atletico Madrid’s transfer embargo, so it will be hard to find a replacement and they would have to pay over the odds for someone like Gianluigi Donnarumma.

In an ideal world, they would keep De Gea as Mourinho builds his teams up from the back, and the strong and reliable Spaniard is crucial to that.

8 Comments

I'm somewhat confused by this article the only articles I've read this season is that DDG is happy at Utd and isn't pushing for a move.Even Guillem Balague who's supposed to know everything Spanish said the same,this article is making out that Utd are in a battle to keep him unless i'm missing some new information i thought DDG staying was a closed deal.

I would have been more frightened if de gea left 2/3 seasons ago, but I'm more confident now in Romeros abilities so if he did go it would be disappointing yes but I don't it would be as catastrophic as it would have been a few seasons ago when he was almost single handily getting us points.
However, if we want to be competing with the elites we need to keep our elite players and not be selling them to potential rivals. He is still young and under a long contract, I don't know where this 65million figure comes from, in current market craziness, I would value him 85 million plus. If we compare him to Pickford who is going for nearly 30 million I think that's fair, would you agree?
Also smalling is rumoured to be going for 15 million?? Why the hell do we sell our players so cheaply and then fork out a fortune to buy them? It really annoys me that

As much as I would love DDG to stay at the club forever, Utd should be moving in a direction where the goalkeeper isn't seen as their most valuable asset. Madrid are a prime example since everything in front of their keeper is world class meaning so anything more than Navas is a luxry and they've shown that they can confortably beat anyone without DDG . It's therefore up to Mourinho to get those top outfield players first so that we're in a position where selling DDG isn't a catastrophe. In short, the more important DDG is to us, the poorer the team we are.

Also, world class as he is "exemplary command of his area" DDG does not have and there are at least 10 keepers in the world who dominate their box better. Something that he will improve on no doubt though.

I don't want this annual "will he, wont he" saga. I'd be happy to sell if Madrid cough up the mega fee. I just dont think they will because their current keeper is excellent. They have just won consecutive Champions League's so there will be no political pressure to sign him.